Well-being is the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health' (Global Wellness Institute, 2020). Holistic health is not just absence of illness, it is a complex combination of nine dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, occupational, creative, spiritual, financial, social, intellectual, and environmental.

The institution, and all individuals at the university play a role in mutual well-being. The university should foster an environment that allows employees and students to be advocates and agents of their own well-being.

Student Examples

• Physical: Enacting healthy habits/practices for sleeping, eating, moving/exercise/play, and self-care.
• Emotional: Recognizing and responding to challenges and setbacks that are part of personal development.
• Occupational: Connecting academic studies to cocurricular experiences to contribute to society.
• Creative: Developing an appreciation for other perspectives and worldviews and engaging multiple perspectives on a complex topic.
• Spiritual: Seeking out a meaningful life, engaging in reflection, and care for others by serving the community. Exploring a faith-based community through UO Religious Directors Association.
• Financial: Accessing essential resources from programs like the Basic Needs Program, Food Pantry, or Financial Wellness Center. Developing skills for managing your finances.
• Social: Developing a sense of belonging through positive friendships, networks, and support groups. Participating in one of the many student organizations, activities, and/or Greek life.
• Intellectual: Learning about others’ perspectives and worldviews, exploring what interests you, opening yourself to new experiences.
• Environmental: Acting to resolve safety concerns or behavior that poses risk to yourself or others. Working to ensure the stability and longevity of natural resources.

Faculty Examples

• Physical: Accessing care to support your physical health through the universities’ healthcare plan. Incorporating wellness breaks that provide opportunities for movement, relaxation, and community building. Requesting an ergonomic assessment. Becoming a member of the university recreation center.
• Emotional: Using emotional intelligence, having compassion for yourself and others, and accessing counseling services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for emotional support.
• Occupational: Utilizing the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to seek counseling for occupational support. Creating boundaries to maintain a work/life balance such as not working after 6 p.m. or not checking emails on vacation.
• Creative: Seeking ways to build other perspectives, cultures, and worldviews into teaching and research and engaging multiple perspectives on a complex topic.
• Spiritual: Seeking out a meaningful life, engaging in reflection, and care for others by serving the community.
• Financial: Accessing essential resources from the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and healthcare plan. Using EAP to find a Financial Advisor. Engaging in the public employees benefit programs to plan for retirement.
• Social: Developing a sense of belonging through positive friendships, networks, and support groups. Taking advantage of the new faculty programs, unit head programs, and mentorship programs to find and build community.
• Intellectual: Seeking ways to learn about others’ perspectives and worldviews in your intellectual pursuits. Joining a community of practice that builds intellectual curiosity, support, and community.
• Environmental: Acting to resolve safety concerns or behavior that poses risk to yourself or others. Seeking to use teaching and learning materials that promote the stability and longevity of natural resources.

Staff and Faculty Examples

• Physical: Accessing care to support your physical health through the university’s healthcare plan. Incorporating wellness breaks that provide opportunities for movement, relaxation, and community building. Requesting an Ergonomic assessment.
• Emotional: Using emotional intelligence, having compassion for yourself and others, and accessing counseling services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for emotional support. Using the LACE framework to design unit-specific resources for your team.
• Occupational: Seeking and finding purpose in your occupation through coaching or leadership development opportunities.
• Creative: Seeking ways to build other perspectives and worldviews into problem solving. Engaging multiple perspectives on a complex topic.
• Spiritual: Seeking out a meaningful life, engaging in reflection, and care for others by serving the community.
• Financial: Accessing essential resources from the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and healthcare plan. Using EAP to find a Financial Advisor. Engaging in the public employees benefit programs to plan for retirement. Utilizing LinkedIn learning training opportunities on financial literacy.
• Social: Developing a sense of belonging through positive friendships, networks, and support groups. Supervisors creating opportunities for community building such as celebratory luncheons after a successful project, or annual retreats focused on deepening relationships.
• Intellectual: Seeking ways to learn about others’ perspectives and worldviews in your workplace. Being curious, asking questions, and seeking to learn as you develop solutions to daily work issues.
• Environmental: Acting to resolve safety concerns or behavior that poses risk to yourself or others. Requesting an ergonomic assessment and making changes to your physical environment to enhance comfort. Seeking to reduce office waste.

Institutional Examples

• Physical: Providing access to wholistic healthcare that recognizes and provides support for a wide variety of care preferences. Providing an ergonomic assessment program to support physical comfort and prevent injury.
• Emotional: Providing counseling services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for emotional support. Providing supervisor and employee training programs to develop emotional intelligence.
• Occupational: Providing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counseling for occupational support. Promoting a culture of work/life balance such as initiating institutional quiet periods.
• Creative: Promoting creativity, the arts, and events that celebrate creativity through things like on-campus museums, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the EMU craft center.
• Spiritual: Supporting a wide variety of beliefs across the university community allowing people to explore their individual spirituality.
• Financial: Ensuring financial sustainability of the university. Forecasting financial risk and taking proactive steps whenever possible to ensure financial resilience.
• Social: Providing spaces and events for the university community to come together and build community, such as the EMU, communal eating spaces, commencement celebrations, etc.
• Intellectual: Living the university mission through commitment to exceptional teaching, discovery, and service. Helping individuals question critically, think logically, reason effectively, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically.
• Environmental: Developing institutional sustainability efforts that seek to reduce campus waste. Maintaining the infrastructure of the university to ensure safety and minimize environmental risk.

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